The present invention generally relates to merchandising solutions, and more specifically relates to an intelligent marketing and advertising platform which employs digital “smart” screens on retail product containers thereby providing an innovative advertising solution.
Although more and more people are purchasing items online, brick and mortar retail sales are still substantial and are, in fact, growing in certain market segments such as grocery, drug and convenience stores. Over 75 percent of shopping in brick and mortar stores is impulse purchasing. Research shows that impulse decisions are highly influenced by in-store messaging, and that most of that in-store impulse shopping occurs at retail product containers, such as coolers and freezers.
If impulse shopping behavior can be disrupted by what is displayed on a retail product container, such as cooler or freezer doors, this would present an enormous value creation opportunity for both consumer packaged goods brands and retailers. Arguably, coolers are the most overlooked, least promoted, least technology sophisticated and one of the most operationally challenged sections of a retail store.
Conventional retail product containers such as coolers, freezers, vending machines, etc. have a glass panel or door through which a customer views products stored in the retail product container and which are available for purchase. Problems with this approach include the fact that oftentimes products stored therein are not neatly presented, products are blocked by other products such that a customer cannot easily see what products are available for purchase, etc. Still further, store employees are required to maintain the appearance of the products stored therein, keep track of stock, install and swap out promotional tags and other displays (such as displays relating to pricing and promotions) in order to keep those items current.
It is a well-understood problem that coolers and refrigerators in grocery stores are one area that is difficult for brands to conduct effective “on-the-spot” advertisements and promotions. Typically, brands rely on other advertising medias (e.g. print, billboards, online and TV advertisements, etc.) to promote products that are retailed on the shelves of coolers/freezers and/or refrigerators at retail and convenience stores. It is also widely acknowledged that current advertising efforts are not effective and impactful. Recognizing these inefficiencies several display manufacturers explored opportunities to convert the “see-thru” glass windows on the cooler doors into transparent displays that can enable running ads while the shoppers still see the products and continue their usual shopping experience. Transparent display technology that was being developed started to be targeted for these applications and were eventually integrated into cooler doors by several manufacturers. These systems allowed the conversion of these “passive” doors into an advertising platform while minimally disrupting a typical consumer shopping experience. The consumer could still see through and select the items they plan to pick; while the store owners or media platform owners can run promotional videos and advertisements on transparent display media. However, over the last few years it was evident that the market penetration of such systems has been very slow. There are a number of factors that have worked to limit adoption, such as:                1) the technology very expensive, requiring prohibitively-high up-front costs;        2) the overall visuals/aesthetics are not appealing to the consumer; and        3) lack of wide-spread adoption prevents the operators of bringing significant advertising revenues to justify business case.        
Brands always seek media platforms that enable them to reach the critical mass of their target customer. For digital signage media platforms, this translates to a need for a very significant installed base.